This is how a human being can change:
There's a worm addicted to eating grape leaves.
Suddenly, he wakes up, call it Grace, whatever, something wakes him, and he's no longer a worm.
He's the entire vineyard, and the orchard too, the fruit, the trunks, a growing wisdom and joy
that doesn't need
to devour.
RUMI 'The Worm's Waking' Coleman Barks version
How is it possible to remain peaceful in such a violent world?
You have to want to lose your appetite for violence or aggression. And to do that, you have to lose your self-righteousness. You have to realize that you cannot continue to have your habitual reaction to something, especially if your reaction ends with violence-physical or verbal-against yourself or somebody else, or even against the government of your country or the terrorists or whomever. You have to accept in your gut that the habitual reaction is poisonous not only to you but to the rest of the world.
Pema Chodron
“One must first of all concentrate one’s thoughts on an object. Once one’s mind achieves a state of concentration and the space between oneself and the object has disappeared, the essential nature of the object can be perceived. Then express it immediately. If one ponders it, it will vanish from the mind.”
MATSUO BASHO 'Learn From the Pine'
The fall, the descent, and its subsequent humility can be seen as another form of blessing.
Jack Kornfield AFTERTHE ECSTASY,theLAUNDRY 'Honoring the Fall'
O thou dweller in my heart,
open it out, purify it, make it bright and beautiful,
awaken it, prepare it, make it fearless,
make it a blessing to others,
Mohandes K Gandhi BOOK OF PRAYERS
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